To the Fellowship Family and our Friends,

It has been nearly six years since that hot and humid Sunday, July 2006, which found the New Renaissance Fellowship Church family, engaged in its first service of worship.  We were fortunate, through a very dear friend of the ministry, to identify a ministry space at the North Yonkers Community Church, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.  From that time till the present “the Fellowship” has found a home for worship, celebration and more.  Indeed, North Yonkers has been home to several other congregations as well.  Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees for the North Yonkers Community Church has informed us of their intention to sell the property to parties unknown.  Accordingly, the Fellowship and other remaining congregations will be forced to move in the near future.  Although no date has been set, we have been advised that negotiations are well underway.

We are saddened to leave the home where we have been established since our very beginning.  Nevertheless, we believe God is opening a new door even as this one begins to close.  As such, we have begun to pray that God will guide us to greater works going forward.  We’re asking your prayers for this ministry and the four others present that a new highway for our God will come into view!

Finally, if you feel led, please share a generous donation with our ministry toward identifying a new location.  Our mailing information is available by clicking on the “Contact Us” tab on this website.

Thank you for your expression of love and care.  Be blessed.  God be with you till we meet again…

The Reverend Everett L. Kilgo, Pastor

Join the

New Renaissance Fellowship Family

“WatchNight Services”

Saturday, December 31, 2011

beginning at 10:30pm.

A new season is afoot!  Come and worship as we look forward to the dawn of the New Year 2012.

THE HISTORY

The Watch Night Services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as “Freedom’s Eve.”  On that night, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. Then, at the stroke of  midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and all slaves in the Confederate States were declared legally free.  When the news was received, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God. Black folks have gathered in churches annually on New Year’s Eve ever since, praising God for bringing us safely through another year.

It’s been 146 years since that first Freedom’s Eve and many of us were never taught the African American history of Watch Night, but tradition still brings us together at this time every year to celebrate “how we got over.”

Greetings to You and Yours!

For Christian believers, now is the time to recognize and remember He who came into the world for the world’s sake.  The Gospel bears witness to the same in the following manner:  ”…for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16,17  Accompanying this word is the sacrifice on the cross, yet it all began with God’s desire to reconcile humanity to God’s self through the one and only true oblation for the sins of humankind.  God would send a part of God’s self to first bring the message:  ”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  And then to bring the gospel and the tenets of practical living laying against the tradition of Judaism.  And though He was of God, he would be born in less than humble surroundings, with dubious origins relevant to his conception, yet move through his life with a mission informed my unimaginable power.  Though all of this is at the base of Christian belief, this time of year is set aside by others who may not even embrace Christian tenets with respect to their Jesus connection.  That notwithstanding, this is a time to rest from our opposition and the more difficult things of life, and share tender moments with friends, family, churchmen and others.  In like manner, I wish the very best for you and yours as you celebrate the true spirit of Christmas, rooted in God’s love for a generation and those who were afar off, that “we might have life and that more abundantly.”  Enjoy your holiday, the peace of the Lord be with you!

The Reverend Everett L. Kilgo, Pastor – New Renaissance Fellowship

It’s a New Season!

Hey People!  It is indeed a new season!  Summer breezes have ended, giving way to the magical colors of Fall, the shedding of the old awaiting the coming of the new.  Meanwhile, school, political season, church and so many other activities burst forth with renewed energy.  It is the latter to which I now speak.  Here’s what’s coming.  The New Renaissance Fellowship is looking forward to its Fall Bible Study beginning Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 7:00p in the Lounge.  It’s beginning is preceded by Sunday’s First Fall Communion 2011 (10/02/11) in the Main Sanctuary with worship beginning at 2:30pm.

We look forward to great times in worship.  We’re looking for you.  Invite your friends and family to come and share with us.  Till then, be safe and be blessed!

While you’re considering that, let me invite you to enjoy the time to rest, relax, renew or whatever else your heart desires.  This is indeed the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad therein.  Meanwhile, join the Fellowship for worship Sunday afternoons at 1:30p through the second Sunday in September 2011.  Our first Fall communion will be held the first Sunday in October.  We invite you and yours to come and fellowship.  Be blessed until we meet…Pastor Everett

The Fellowship at Worship:  Pentecost 2011

Join the New Renaissance Fellowship Family for its

“Day of Pentecost Celebration 2011″

Sunday, June 12, 2011

4:00pm

(Repast served beginning 2:30p)

Guest Speaker

The Reverend Jeffery S. Thompson, Senior Pastor

Amity Baptist Church of Jamaica

(Congregations & Choirs)

Location

The New Renaissance Fellowship Church

(host church:  North Yonkers Community Church)

95 Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706

(For travel see “DIRECTIONS” tab)

The Reverend Everett L. Kilgo, Pastor

 ⁴And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

   ⁵For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

   ⁶When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

   ⁷And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

   ⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Place of Waiting: The Upper Room"

   ⁹And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

   ¹⁰And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

   ¹¹Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

   ¹²Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

I am overwhelmed by a spirit of thanksgiving when I consider that not only was God seeking reconciliation with humanity, but that he intended to empower them that they might have lives of abundant blessings.  His grace was not only for those of that time, also known as “the near,” but for those who are afar off; you and I.  This is a season to rejoice!  It is the moment to realize and affirm that because it’s in Him that we live and move and have our being, empowered by God’s Agent-within, the Holy Spirit, all things are possible.  What a blessing!

“Season of the Passion”

Grace and Peace!  This corridor of time encompasses, perhaps, the most significant period in the Christian faith through its remembrances, worship, self-examination, and change.  Witness what the scriptures have to say:  1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. ²Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. ³The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:  ⁵And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” At the basis of this word was the prophecy that signaled Jesus the Christ’s entry into this world that those who were near and those who are afar off might be reconciled to our God.  Various worship settings and related activities are going forth throughout the Christian diaspora.  The New Renaissance family invites you and yours to share with us on Resurrection Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 8:00am in the South Chapel at our host church’s location:  North Yonkers Community Church, 95 Broadway · Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706. We will have one service only.  If your schedule permits, join Pastor Kilgo for the Service of Seven Last Sayings on Good Friday, April 22, 2011 at the Newman Memorial United Methodist Church, 257 Macon Street · Brooklyn, New York (corner of Throop Ave.), hosted by the Reverend Walter Barton, Pastor, beginning at 12 noon.

“Women’s History Month 2011″

Celebrate!!

To the women of the New Renaissance Family, our friends and internet family:  Congratulations, in this celebration of Women’s History Month 2011! Women of all ethnicities have been invaluable to the development and ongoing prosperity of our nation.  Over the years their contributions have been largely overlooked.  Over the past several decades this has begun to change.  Witness the following words from President Jimmy Carter’s Message to the nation designating March 2-8, 1980 as National Women’s History Week.

“From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

As Dr. Gerda Lerner has noted, “Women’s History is Women’s Right.” – It is an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision.”

I ask my fellow Americans to recognize this heritage with appropriate activities during National Women’s History Week, March 2-8, 1980.

I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality – - Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul.
Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people.

This goal can be achieved by ratifying the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that “Equality of Rights under the Law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Former President Jimmy Carter’s words still ring true for today. We are collectively called to celebrate the contributions of those who have and continue to bless our nation and the world with their gifts.  And so, for the month of March 2011 the New Renaissance Fellowship will celebrate women of the bible in the following activities:

Women’s History Month Celebration

“Phenomenal Women of Faith, Love & Power”

Women’s Bible Study

Tuesdays - March 8/15/22, 2011 – 7:00p

Guest Lecturer:  The Rev. Mary Higgs, Assoc. Min., Calvary Baptist Church

Join us in the Lounge for pre-study refreshment!!

“Women’s History Sunday 2011″

Sunday, March 27, 2011 @ 3:00p

New Renaissance Fellowship Church

(North Yonkers Community Church [host location])

95 Broadway – Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

Speaker:  The Reverend Willa Mae King, Assistant Pastor – Mt. Carmel Baptist Church of Yonkers NY

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WATCHNIGHT:  “THE MOMENT OF TRUTH & CHANGE”

“REASON TO WATCH: A HISTORY”

(this is reprinted from the “Online Fellowship” at http://www.onlinefellowship.org/2009/12/29/watch-night-service-history/comment-page-1/#comment-13464)

Many of you who live or grew up in Black communities in the United States have probably heard of “Watch Night Services,” the gathering of the faithful in church on New Year’s Eve.

The service usually begins anywhere from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and ends at midnight with the entrance of the New Year.  Some folks come to church first, before going out to celebrate.  For others, church is the only New Year’s Eve event.  Like many others, I always assumed that Watch Night was a fairly standard Christian religious service — made a bit more Afro centric because that’s what happens when elements of Christianity become linked with the Black Church.  Still, it seemed that predominately White Christian churches did not include  Watch Night services on their calendars, but focused instead on Christmas Eve programs. In fact, there were instances where clergy in mainline denominations wondered aloud about the propriety of linking religious services with a secular holiday like New Year’s Eve.  However, there is a reason for the importance of New Year’s Eve services in African American congregations.

The Watch Night Services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as “Freedom’s Eve.”  On that night, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. Then, at the stroke of  midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and all slaves in the Confederate States were declared legally free.  When the news was received, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God. Black folks have gathered in churches annually on New Year’s Eve ever since, praising God for bringing us safely through another year.

It’s been 145 years since that first Freedom’s Eve and many of us were never taught the African American history of Watch Night, but tradition still brings us together at this time every year to celebrate “how we got over.”

PS- Pass this information on so we can educate more of our Family and Friends about our History!

(PLEASE SEE “CURRENT INTERESTS” TAB ON THIS BLOG FOR MORE INSIGHT!)

(Rev’s addition:  It’s now been 148 years since the first Freedom’s Eve!  This article was first written a few years back by blogger RiverAngel42)

Join with the

New Renaissance Fellowship family

for our

“WATCHNIGHT CELEBRATION 2010″

Tonite at 10:30pm

95 Broadway • Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

(for more information see our “Contact Us” and “Directions” pages)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“REJOICE!  OUR LORD THE KING HAS COME!”

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-11, 14

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!  For this is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!  On behalf of the New Renaissance Fellowship, welcome to our home-on-line.  Please find herein a resource for all that is going on here at the “Fellowship”.  We invite you to stop through and worship with us.  Till then, be blessed

Pastor Everett